Dried Harissa Is the Spice I've Been Using In Everything

If you're a fan of spicy food, you probably already know about harissa. The North African condiment has roots in Tunisia but is used in many Middle Eastern cusines as well. It's smoky, spicey, and garlicky, and it goes well in a wide array of dishes, like chicken thighs and roasted eggplant. Typically, harissa comes in a paste sold in jars or tubes, or one than you can make yourself. But it's also available in another format that I hadn't explored much until recently: as a dried, jarred spice mix that is easy to store and just as easy to incorporate into everything you make.

I'm a habitual wanderer of grocery store spice aisles, and so when I saw New York Shuk's Rosey Harissa Spice, with its delicately illustrated label and promise of a more floral, mild harissa taste, I picked it up. The next day, I was going to make myself a quick tuna melt for dinner after a long day out and used it as part of the tuna salad I made myself, with fantastic results. Over the following few weeks I incorporated it into a homemade mayonnaise as a dip for oven fries and threw it into a chickpea curry I made. The flavor of the spices was complex but not overwhelmingly hot.

New York Shuk also makes an Herby harissa Spice and a Fiery Harissa Spice, which differ fromt the Rosey edition in the ways reflected in their names. I've used the Fiery harissa when I want a little extra heat, and the Herby one in vinaigrettes. The company also makes a harissa in a jar, as well as a preserved lemon paste. I particularly love the preserved lemon paste, which brings the salty, sour bite of preserved lemons into dishes without the process of breaking down a whole lemon.

Dried harissa isn't something that you'd want in your spice arsenal before, say, cumin or cayenne, but if you're already a fan of the stuff and are looking for a very good version of it, pick up New York Shuk's Rosey Harissa Spice. You won't be sorry.